Vehicle grain unloader



April 27, 1954 E. K. HANSEN 2,676,721

VEHICLE GRAIN UNLOADER Filed May 4, 1,951

2 Sheets-$heet l I N VE N TOE Elmer K. Hansen N 'm 00 Q (u w A ril. 27, 1954 E. K. HANSEN 2,676,721

VEHICLE GRAIN UNLOADER Filedua 4, 1951 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN T02 Elmer K- Hahsen the feed angers 34 and 36 are rotated in a direction to move the forage material toward the front wall l3, namely, in an opposite direction from the drag conveyer 21. The feed auger 31, which as previously mentioned is of a reverse pitch relative to the angers 34 and 36, is rotated in a reverse direction relative to the angers 34 and 36 so as to also move the material toward the front wall H3.

The function of the angers 34, 36 and 31 is to agitate the material within the box I l to reduce arching of the material in the box, and the tumbling or dropping of the material onto the conveyer 2'! in amounts that would clog the discharge opening l1. Since the conveyer 21 feeds the material toward the rear wall I2, there is. a tendency to overload the conveyer 21 at the discharge opening ll, namely, to pile material against the rear wall I2 with a possible conseqnent clogging of the discharge opening I1, and an uneven rate of discharge of material through the opening W. This action is overcome by the reversed feeding action of the angers 34, 36 and 3"! which act to eliminate any piling up of material against the rear wall [2 by continuously moving the material away from the rear wall and toward the front wall l3.

The angers 34, 36 and 31 thus function to both agitate the material within the box H, and to control the feeding of the material to the drag conveyer 2'! for discharge through the opening IT. This action of the angers may be complemented by their operation at varying speeds of rotation. Thus in one embodiment of the invention, and with the angers being five inches in diameter, the auger 34 was rotated at about 130 R. P. M., while the remaining angers 36 and 37 were rotated at speeds of about 25 R. P. M. For these auger speeds the drag conveyer 21 was aperated at a speed of about two hundred fifty feet per minute.

The material moved through the discharge opening l! by the drag conveyer 21 is acted upon by the impeller or blade 48, which is rotated in a direction as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, to move and direct the material into the auger 43 for transfer to the upright conveyer 44. In other, words, the'impeller 48 prevents any clogging of the passage 5! which communicates the interior of the box H with the conveyer 43 as would occur especially with chopped hay due to the light weight of such material.

Where the forage material is merely to be unloaded for stock feeding purposes or the like, the

conveyer attachment 4| may be removed, and s like are to be handled, it is not necessary that the feeding angers 34, 36 and 37 be operated, since this small grain material will readily travel downwardly through the box and because of its small size will not clog the discharge opening H.

The power transmission system for the unloading means of this invention is best understood from a consideration of Figs. 2, 4 and 5. A power shaft 52 is extended longitudinally of the wagon it] at a position between the wagon frame side members l9, and has its front end 53 adapted to be connected to a suitable source of power supply such as a power take off of a tractor through a usual connecting shaft indicated at 54. The front end of the shaft 52 is rotatably supported in a bearing 56 which forms part of a gear unit 51 suitably mounted on the forward end of the wagon H1. The rear end 58 of the power shaft 52 is mounted within a differential housing 59 suitably supported from the underside of the wagon box It at a position adjacent to the rear end wall [2.

The front end 53 of the shaft 52, within the gear unit 5'! carries a sprocket gear 6! which is connected through a chain 62 with a sprocket gear 63 mounted on a shaft 64 which is rotatably supported on the housing fill of the gear unit 57. A second gear at on the shaft 64 is connected through a chain 61 with a gear 6'. located within the housin so and mounted on the projected end 69 of the shaft H for the auger 34. A second gear '12 on the anger shaft H is connected through a chain 73 with a sprocket gear 34 mounted on a stub or countershaft it rotatably supported within the housing 66 and forming part of the gear unit iii. A second gear is on the conntershaft i6 is connected through a chain 13 with sprocket gears Si, 82 and 83 which are mounted, respectively, on the projected front ends of the shafts 34 for the angers 3t and 31. As best appears in Figs. 4-. and 5 the chain 19 is reversely passed about the gear 82 corresponding to the auger 37, so as to rotate the auger 3'! in a reverse direction relative to the rotational direction of the angers 34 and 36. It is seen, therefore, that all of the angers are driven from the power shaft 52 from a common gear Bi and with the gear arrangement providing for a flexibility of operation of the angers both as to speed and direction of rotation.

The rear end of the power shaft 52, within the differential housing 58, carries a bevel gear 36 which is in meshed engagement with a bevel gear 8lmounted on a transversely extended countershaft 83 suitably supported within the differential housing 5%. Also mounted on the countershaft 81, and to the outside of the differential housing 59, is a sprocket gear 89 (Figs. 1 and 5) which is connected through a chain 9i with a sprocket gear 92 mounted on a projected end of the conveyer shaft 33, to provide for the operation of the conveyer 27. A tooth gear 93 mounted on the conveyer shaft 33 is in meshed engagement with a tooth gear 95 mounted on the shaft 49 for the impeller 48. It is thus seen that the conveyer 2i and impeller 43 are driven from the counter-shaft 81.

The rear end 58 of the power shaft 52 (Fig. 2) projects rearwardly outwardly from the differential housing 59 and terminates in a shank portion 98 of a square shape in transverse cross section.

The front end 99 of the shaft iiil for the auger 43 projects forwardly from the casing 42 and terminates in a socket member 32 for receiving the shank member 93 of the power shaft 52. The rear end of the anger shaft Hill is supported in a bearing I05 on the housing 42 and projects rearwardly from the housing 42. This projected end of the auger shaft ii)! carries a bevel gear H13 which is in meshed engagement with a bevel gear H34 mounted at the lower end Hit of the shaft It! of the upright anger 44. The anger shaft- [0| thus constitutes an extension of the power shaft 52, so that the angers 43 and 44 are driven directly from the power shaft 52.

It is readily apparent that the power transmission system above described may be modified to incorporate clutch controls to provide for the independent or concurrent operation of the angers '34, 36 and 31, the impeller 48 and the conveyor 2?.

, From a consideration of the above description it is seen that the invention provides an unloadlng means for a grain vehicle which is of a compact and rugged construction, and efficient in operation to unload either a forage material or a small grain material at a mechanically controlled rate for discharge either into feed bunks or feed bins. The rate of discharge for various materials may further be controlled by the provision of an end gate I I0 (Figs. 1 and 2) which is slidably supported for vertical movement on the rear side of the rear wall [2 for traverse across the discharge opening H. The augers 34, 38 and 31 function as both agitators and material feeders to regulate and distribute on the conveyor 21 the material to be handled for discharge through the opening 11. Also the impeller 48 functions to both move and direct material discharged from the conveyor 27 onto the conveyor is for transfer to the conveyor 4i.

Although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof it is to be understood that it is not to be so limited since changes and modifications can be made therein which are within the full intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. For use with a material handling vehicle having a material container with end walls and a bottom Wall and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, a material unloading means including a longitudinal conveyor adjacent the bottom wall of said container for discharging material through said opening, a plurality of longitudinally extended 'augers within said container rotatably supported in said end walls, said augers being arranged in a vertically spaced relation above said conveyor, and means for driving said augers to move material in a direction away from said discharge opening.

2. For use with a material handling vehicle having a material container With end Walls and a bottom wall and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, a material unloading means including a longitudinally extended conveyor adjacent the bottom wall of said container for moving material through said discharge opening, a pair of longitudinally extended augers within said container rotatably supported on said end walls, said augers being in a vertically spaced relation above said conveyor, and means for driving said augers to move material in a direction away from said discharge opening, with'the lower auger being driven at a rotational speed greater than that of the upper auger.

3. For use with a material handling vehicle having a material container with end walls and a bottom wall and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, material unloading means including a longitudinally extended conveyor within said container located adjacent said bottom Wall and having one end projected through said discharge opening to move material through said opening, a second longitudinally extended conveyor to the outside of said container located below and extended outwardly from the projected end of said first conveyor, an upright conveyor having the lower end thereof in a position to receive material from said second conveyor, and means located above said second conveyor and outwardly from the projected end of said first conveyor for moving material discharged from said first conveyor onto said second conveyor.

4. For use with a material handling vehicle having a material container with end walls and a bottom Wall and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, a material unloading means including a conveyor extended longitudinally of said container and adjacent to said bottom Wall for moving material through said discharge opening, and a series of substantially vertically aligned material feeding and agitating means extended longitudinally of said container above said conveyor and mounted on said end walls for feeding material away from said one end wall.

5. In a material handling vehicle having a material container with end walls, a bottom Wall, side walls having sections inclined upwardly and outwardly from said bottom Wall, and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, a material unloading means including a longitudinally extended conveyor within said container and adjacent to said bottom wall for discharging material through said opening, a plurality of material feeding augers located Within and extended longitudinally of said container, means rotatably supporting said augers in said end walls in a vertically spaced relation above said conveyor, and within the vertical dimensions defined by said inclined sections, and means for rotating said angers, to feed material away from said one end Wall.

6. A material handling vehicle comprising a material container having end walls and a bottom wall and a discharge opening in one of said end walls, material unloading means including a conveyor extended longitudinally of said container and adjacent to said bottom wall for moving material through said discharge opening, a plurality of material feeding and agitating members supported at their ends in said end walls and extended longitudinally of said container above said conveyor and with said members being relatively arranged in said container at vertically spaced positions with th lowermost member positioned adjacent said conveyor and the uppermost member positioned adjacent the upper sides of said end walls.

7. In a material handling vehicle having a material container with end walls and a bottom wall and a discharge opening in one of said walls, material unloading means including longitudinally extended conveyor within said container and adjacent the bottom Wall for discharging material through said opening, a plurality of material feeding and agitating angers located within and extended longitudinally of said container, means rotatably supporting said augers in said end Walls in a vertically spaced and substantially vertically aligned relation above said conveyor, and means for rotating said augers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,220,953 Cornwall Mar. 2'7, 191'? 1,505,863 Chayer Aug. 19, 1924 1,598,842 Arrowood Sept. '7, 1926 2,293,977 Hoffstetter Aug. 25, 1942 2,406,886 McBean Sept. 3, 1946 2,438,301 Schulte Mar. 23, 194-8 2,488,965 Dear Nov. 22, 1949 2,555,558 Peterson June 5, 1951 2,575,639 Scranton et al Nov. 20, 1951 2,613,004 Kane Oct. 7, 1952 

